Tomasz Praczyk, Tadeusz Bodnar
Polish Naval Academy (Poland)
https://doi.org/10.53656/ped21-6s.12swa
Abstract. A swarm of autonomous underwater vehicles can be a valuable alternative for fully equipped and very expensive super-vehicles. A distributed system of tightly cooperating vehicles can be cheaper, simpler in maintenance, more reliable, more flexible and universal than traditional single-vehicle systems. However, keeping a tight formation of underwater vehicles in the condition of the sea current, unclear environment, and rare inter-vehicle communication is a very challenging problem, which requires an effective vehicle control system. The paper proposes a solution to the above-mentioned problem, which is based on neuro-evolution. Moreover, the paper also presents the first results of the proposed system.
Keywords: swarm; autonomous underwater vehicles; neuro-evolution; neural networks